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Secondary sector of industry

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The secondary sector of the economy or industrial sector includes those economic sectors that create a finished, tangible product: production

Production (economics)

In economics, production is the act of creating 'use' value or 'utility' that can satisfy a want or need. The act may or may not include factors of production other than labor...

and construction

Construction

In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

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Function

This sector generally takes the output of the primary sector and manufactures finished goods. These products are then either exported or sold to domestic consumers and to places where they are suitable for use by other businesses. This sector is often divided into light industry

Light industry

Light industry is usually less capital intensive than heavy industry, and is more consumer-oriented than business-oriented...

and heavy industry

Heavy industry

Heavy industry does not have a single fixed meaning as compared to light industry. It can mean production of products which are either heavy in weight or in the processes leading to their production. In general, it is a popular term used within the name of many Japanese and Korean firms, meaning...

. Many of these industries consume large quantities of energy and require factories and machinery to convert the raw materials into goods and products. They also produce waste materials and waste heat that may pose environmental problems or cause pollution.

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Some economists contrast wealth-producing sectors in an economy such as manufacturing

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to produce goods for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...

with the service sector which tends to be wealth-consuming. Examples of service may include retail, insurance, and government. These economists contend that an economy begins to decline as its wealth-producing sector shrinks. Manufacturing is an important activity to promote economic growth and development. Nations that export

Export

The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...

manufactured products tend to generate higher marginal GDP growth, which supports higher incomes and marginal tax revenue needed to fund the quality-of-life initiatives such as health care

Health care

Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...

and infrastructure

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...

in the economy. The field is an important source for engineering

Engineering

Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...

job opportunities. Among developed countries, it is an important source of well-paying jobs for the middle class

Middle class

The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....

to facilitate greater social mobility

Social mobility

Social mobility refers to the movement of people in a population from one social class or economic level to another. It typically refers to vertical mobility -- movement of individuals or groups up from one socio-economic level to another, often by changing jobs or marrying; but can also refer to...

for successive generations of the economy.

List of countries by Industrial output

Below is a list of countries by industrial output in 2010. Output is in millions of US$.

Rank	Country	Output in nominal GDP
—	World Gross world product Gross world product is the total gross national product of all the countries in the world. This also equals the total gross domestic product. See measures of national income and output for more details...	19,313,147
—	European Union	4,070,558
1	United States	3,239,374
2	Mainland China	2,756,903
3	Japan	1,359,259
4	Germany	921,749
5	Brazil	560,204
6	Russia	539,149
7	Italy	519,944
8	United Kingdom	489,945
9	Early Modern France	477,767
10	Canada	413,975

Rank	Country	Output in PPP Purchasing power parity In economics, purchasing power parity is a condition between countries where an amount of money has the same purchasing power in different countries. The prices of the goods between the countries would only reflect the exchange rates... GDP
—	World Gross world product Gross world product is the total gross national product of all the countries in the world. This also equals the total gross domestic product. See measures of national income and output for more details...	22,799,316
1	Mainland China	4,730,197
—	European Union	3,792,605
2	United States	3,239,374
3	Japan	1,073,073
4	India	1,067,883
5	Russia	818,048
6	Germany	817,441
7	Brazil	582,112
8	South Korea	573,484
9	Mexico	510,995
10	Indonesia	484,045

Secondary sector of industry

Function

List of countries by Industrial output

See also